Fire alarm signaling system



P. G. BRACK FIRE ALARM SIGNALING SYSTEM sheets-sheep 1 Filed April 17, 1957 f K KKKK K KKKK g :zur

K KK 641 I KKlJ March l5, 19383?. p, ,G @RACK4 FIRE ALARM SIGNALING SYSTEM Filed April 17, 1957.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT ortica 2 Claims.

In the i'lre lighting systems generally employed in the cities of this country, each fire company services a denite territory in which a certain number of alarm boxes are located. When a 5 given company responds to an alarm of re that comes in from a certain alarm box, another company, usually in adjacent territory, has assigned to it the servicing of the other alarm boxes, which otherwise are covered by the company rst mentioned.

When a given re company responds to a still alarm, the companies at the other stations are notified either by telephone, or a signaling system, that the company iirst named is out of service, and in such case, the chief of onerof the remaining companies by consulting his running cards or other records ascertains that until the return of the company out on duty, his own commust respond to alarms sent in from the territory covered by the company that is now out, as well as to alarms within his own territory. Upon the return of the company to its station, the remaining companies are notified by telephone or otherwise, and thereupon, that one of said companies whose duty it was to service the territory normally covered by the company first mentioned is relieved of further responsibility for responding to alarms from any except those sent in from its own territory. Considerable confusion frequently results from the system above briefly outlined and much time in responding to an alarm is lost, especially where two or more companies are out at the same time.

The object of the present invention is to pro- A vide a signaling system whereby the telephone and still alarm system employed to notify each company of the movements of the other, and the confusion and loss of time resulting therefrom, are eliminated.

By means of the present invention, an ofhcer of each company which responds to an alarm of re actuates a circuit closer, thereby energizing visual signals at each of the other stations indicating that his own company is out, and simultaneously therewith energizing at one of the other stations visual signals indicating that such other company must service the call boxes in the territory oi the company first mentioned until the return of the latter. Upon the return of the company responding to the alarm, the said circuit closer is again actuated to open the circuit previously closed thereby, whereupon the indicating devices above mentioned are de-energized.

Specifically, if station No. 1 covers alarm boxes A, B and C, station No. 2, boxes D, E and F, station No. 3, boxes G, H, and I, and station No. 4, boxes J, K, and L; when the company of station No. 1 responds to an alarm from box A, for example, the closing of a switch at station l will light lamps at all the stations which will illumi- 6 nate panels each bearing the number 1, and at station No. 2 will illuminate panels marked, respectively, A, B, C. Each company by means of the illuminated panels is notified that company No. l is out on duty, and station No. 2 is informed 10 by the call-box-indicating lights that should an alarm be sounded from any call box within the territory covered by company No. 1, it will be its duty to service such call until the return oi company No. 1. 15

In like manner, if company No. 2 is responding to an alarm, the figure 2 is illuminated on panels at al1 of the stations and at station No. 3 there will appear on illuminated panels, the letters D, E,'F (in the present instance) informing 20 company No. 3 that until the return of company No. 2 it will be the duty of company No. 3 to service all alarms sounded by the boxes identiiied, for the purpose of this example, as D, E, and F, etc.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a 25 part of this specification, Figure l is an electrical diagram embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a cabinet that may be employed in connection with my system.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 30 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

In the particular drawing selected for more fully disclosing the principle of my invention, a 35 schematic representation of circuits applicable to the fire fighting system of a small town having four engine companies is shown. At each engine house is placed a cabinet Ill divided longitudinally by the partitions I I into four compartments 40 I2, I3, I4, I5, and the compartment I2 is divided transversely by the partitions I6 into four compartments Il', I8, I9, 2li. In each of said compartments is placed an electric lamp, and a transparent panel closes the front thereof. The panel 46 ZI bears the numbers I, Z, 5 and 4, indicating the re stations of the system, and each of the three sets of panels 22, Z3, 2d, carry the numbers indicating the call boxes placed in different parts of the town. In each of the compartments I6 is 50 placed a lamp 25 for illuminating the panel 2I and the lire station indicia carried thereby, and in each of the compartments I2, I3, I4 and I5 is lamp 26 to illuminate the panels 22, 23, 2t carrying the call box indicia. 55

It is to be understood, of course, that my invention is not limited to the number of fire stations employed in the system and that the cabinet aforesaid will be divided into the requisite number of compartments, depending upon the extent of the towns equipment. It will be understood, also, that my invention is applicable to ladder as well as to engine companies,

33, 3|, indicate a power circuit, and the conductors 32, 33, 34, and are conductors in eluded in the same cable with the conductors 30 and 3 I. By the switches or circuit closers 36, 31,

38, 39, the various signal indicating devices at the respective re stations are controlled. Thus when the switch 36 is closed at station No. 1, there will be a circuit through the fire-station-indicating lamps I at each of the four stations, thereby indicating to the companies 2, 3, and 4 that company No. l has responded to an alarm of re sent in from a call box located Within the territory covered by station No. 1. In this particular instance, it is assumed that there are three such call boxes which, for convenience of illustration, are designated A, B and C. The closure of switch 36 in addition to lightingY lamps I at each of the four stations, will also light the lamps A, B, C, at station No. 2, (that is to say, the lamps in the compartment 22, the transparent panels closing the same bearing the letters A, B and C), thereby informing engine company No. 2 that company No. 1 has responded to an alarm sent in from alarm box A, or B, or C, and that until said company No. 1 returns, station No. 2 is responsible for alarms sent in from the other call boxes normally serviced by company No. l. In like manner, when switch 31 is closed, the lights I 8 in each cabinet at all four stations are energized and the information conveyed to companies Nos. 1, 3, and 4 that company No. 2 has responded to an alarm sent in from a box in its territory.

The closure of switch 31 at station No. 2 causes the lighting of thelamps D, E, F, at'station No. 3 and until the return of company No. 2, station No. 3 is responsible for all alarms sent in from call boxes D, E, or F.

When the switch 38 at station No. 3 is closed, the lamps I9 in each cabinet are lighted, causing the transparent panels bearing the number 3 to be illuminated, and in addition, the lamps behind the panels bearing the letters G, H, I, at station No. 4, showing that until the return of company No. 3, station No. 4 is responsible for all alarms sent in from call boxes G, H, I.

Y Upon the closure of switch 39 atV station No. 4, the lamps 20 in each cabinet are lighted, each company thereby is informed that Ycompany No. 4 is out, and in addition, company No. 1, by the lighting of the lamps behind the panels bearing the letters J, K, L, at station No. 1, is informed that it must respond to al1 alarms from boxes J, K, L, until the return of company No. 4.

Upon the return of a company to its station house, the switch which was thrown to close the circuit upon the departure of the company is opened, thereby extinguishing the fire-stationindicating lights I, 2, 3, or 4, as the case may be, and informing the company at whose station the call-box-indicating lamps were lighted upon the closure of said switch that its responsibility for calls originating from the other stations territory has ceased.

It will be clear that by means of my invention, each company is definitely apprised as to the movements of the others and all uncertainty as to the obligations and responsibilities of the respective companies for the servicing of the alarm boxes in the territory of a company out on duty are removed.

Having thus described an illustrative embodiment of my invention, without however limiting the same, either to the mechanical or the electrical features thereof, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a fire-alarm signaling system, a plurality of sets of re-station-indicating devices, each set being located at each of a number of fire stations and each indicating-device of each set being indicative of one station only, a source of electrical energy, circuits interconnecting said fire-stationindicating devices, switch means at each said station for connecting said source to each device at each station indicative of the station at which the actuated switch is located, a plurality of sets of call-box-indicating devices, each indicative of the call-boxes covered by one of said re stations only, and means connecting each set of call-boxindicating devices for actuation simultaneously with a re-station-indicating device at a station other than that at which said switch means is located.

2. In a fire alarm signaling system, two rirestation-indicating devices, each located at a re station and both indicative of one fire station only, a source of electrical energy, circuits interconnecting said re-station-indicating devices, switch means at the first fire Vstation for simultaneously actuating said devices at both stations, a set of call-box-indicating devices at the second fire station indicative of the call-boxes covered by therrst ofsaid stations, and means connecting said call-box-indicating devices for simultaneous actuation with the re-station-indicating device at said second station.

PAUL G. BRACK. 

